Artificial-fuel briquet.



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM A. KONEMAN, O13 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNA- TIONALFUEL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ARTIFICIAL-FUEL BRIQU ET.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N 0. 71 1,166, dated October14, 1902.

Application filed June 14, 1902. Serial No. 111,737. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. KONEMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Artificial Fuel Briquets, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to improvement-sin artificial-fuel briquets formedof finely-divided carbonaceous material, or, and more particularly, amixture of two or more such materials, my object being to cheapen andimprove their manufacture by the use of a peculiarly inexpensive andinsoluble and combustible agglutinating extract which will serve to bindthe carbonaceousingredients together against danger of disintegration inhandling and from the action of the elements, which will itself burnfreely and Without the production of smoke, and which will otherwisecontribute to the production of a highly-desirable and economicalbriquet as a new article of manufacture.

Hitherto in the manufacture of artificialfuel briquets it has been mostcommon to provide an agglutinant consisting of asphaltum, tar, or otherheavy hydrocarbon substances. Such agglutinating material isobjectionable on account of the great amount of smoke produced duringits combustion and because the proper admixture of these ingredients isdifficult and expensive by reason of its being necessary to heat theentire mass of coal as well as the hydrocarbon agglutinant. The expensegenerally incurred by the use of such an agglutinant will approximateone dollar per ton of the briquets manufactured. Starch, dextrine,gluten, and the like have also been employed as binding materials forartificialfuel briquets, but the expense thereof usually exceeds onedollar per ton of the briquets manufactured, and they are undesirablefor other reasons. Lime, clay, gypsum, and other viscous earthy andmineral substances have been employed as agglutinants in fuel briquets;but they are objectionable more especially because they add greatly tothe ash percentage of the fuel and are not sufficiently coherent. Aneflicient agglutinating material for fuel briquets has been employed,

consisting of a glue or gelatin solution obtained by boiling hide-scrapand the like; but such agglutiuating material is also objectionable onaccount of the expense necessarily involved in its production.

In carrying out my invention I take advantage of certain economicalconditions which not only render the productof agglutinating materialproduced cost less, in most instances, but inherently profitable onaccount of the byproducts produced in its manufacture, which by-producisare sufficiently valuable to cover-a considerable proportion of the costof manufacturing briquets irrespective of the agglutinant.

My invention lies in providing as an agglutinating material forartificial-fuel briquets crude extract of bones or bone-soup, which ispreferably produced by taking the bones and without preliminarypreparation reducing them to small pieces and subjecting them in asuitable closed vat to steam under a pressure of forty pounds, more orless, to the square inch. While the action is progressing, the mass issprayed intermittently with water, and the liquids are withdrawnperiodically from the vat as they accumulate. The liquids thus withdrawnconsist of a crude solution of gluten, chondrin, and grease. The liquidis run into a suitable separating-vat, where the grease, which is oflighter specific gravity than the other ingredients,is skimmed 0E,leaving the crude bone extract, which forms the aggl utinatin g materialfor my present purpose.

In practice I employ what is commonly caller butchers waste, consistingfor the most part of bones denuded of their meat, which material may beobtained at very small cost. With the bones there may be tendons,cartilages, the drawings and feet of fowls, and other such material, allof which is commonly termed butchers Waste and usually carted torendering establishments. The

crushed bones, &c., are subjected without other preliminary preparationin the closed the liquids are withdrawn from the vat, any suspendedmatter, such as meat fiber, may be removed therefrom by passing thesolu= tion through a filter-press. In treating the average butchersscrap the resultant products are substantially the following: grease,about twenty per cent., in weight, of the scrap treated; gluten andchondrin, about twentyfive per cent, in weight, of the mass; meat fiber,up to four per cent, in weight, of the mass; and dry bones, about fortyper cent, in weight, of the mass. The grease may be disposed of for useby soap manufacturers, &c. The meat fiber may be pulverized and disposedof for any use for which it may be desirable, and the dried bones may beground for fertilizer, sugar-house char, bone-ash, &c. The by-productshave a market value much in excess of the cost of the butchers waste,&c., and treatment, so that the bone extract or bone-soup, to say theleast, costs nothing. This bone extract consists of about two-thirdsgluten and one-third chondrin. Before its use in the manufacture of thefuel briquets it is diluted with water to make about a ten to fifteenper cent. gluten-chondrin solution. The gluten may be made insoluble bychlorin and the chondrin may be made insoluble by sulfateof iron.Instead of rendering the agglutinating material insoluble before mixingit with the carbonaceous material for the briquots I prefer, for reasonsof economy, to subject it, after mixing, to the action of chlorin gasgenerated within the moistened carboniferous mass,to which is added asuitable sulfate-of-iron solution. Informing the briquets the dilutedsolution of agglutinating material prepared as described is thoroughlystirred into the finely-divided carbonaceous material to form asufficiently coherent mass, after which the mixture is molded intobriquets and dried.

My invention consists in providing as a binder for artificial-fuelbriquets agglutinating material produced from bones, either alone orwhen mixed with other so-called butcher-shop waste, and while I preferto render the agglutinating material insoluble by theaction of chlorinand sulfate of iron I That I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The process of making artificial fuel, which consistsin subjectingbones to the action of steam to produce therefrom a crude extractcontaining their gluten and chondrin constituents, mixing the said crudeextract in a diluted state and in proper proportion with finely-dividedcarbonaceous material, molding the mixture into briquets, and finallydrying the briquets.

2. The process of making artificial fuel, which consists in subjectingbones, mixed with other butcher-shop waste, to the action of steam toproduce therefrom a crude extract containing their gluten and chondrinconstituents, mixing the said crude extract in a diluted state and inproper proportion with finely-divided carbonaceous material, molding themixed mass into briquets and finally drying the briquets.

3. The process of making artificial fuel, which consists in subjectingbones to the action of steam to produce therefrom a crude extractcontaining their gluten and chondrin constituents, mixing the said crudeextract in a diluted state and in proper proportion with afinely-divided carbonaceous material, treating the mass to render thesaid extract insoluble, molding the mass into briquets and finallydrying the briquets.

4. The process of making artificial fuel, which consists in subjectingbones to the action of steam, to produce therefrom a crude extractcontaining their gluten and chondrin constituents, mixing the said crudeextract in a diluted state and in proper proportion with finely-dividedcarbonaceous material, subjecting the mass to the action of chlorin gasand a sulfate of iron solution to render the extract insoluble, moldingthe mass into briquets, and finally drying the briquets.

WILLIAM A. KGNEMAN.

In presence of- ALBERT D. BAOCI, WM. 13. DAvIE's.

